Conventional OCR systems produce an output that is just a text (character codes) of recognition results, or character strings indented by inserting spaces into a text to provide a layout resembling that of an original document. A user of the OCR system utilizes the thus-obtained information on characters for document creation by providing it to a text processing system such as a word processor or an editor.
However, in recent years, DTP (Desk Top Publishing) systems with functions upgraded from those of the word processor have spread. Possessing not only text codes, but also attributive information on character position, size, etc., these systems can handle complex information more freely than a word processor can. Therefore, in order to correspond to the DTP system, the OCR system is required to output layout information such as the positions and sizes of characters as well as the text code information.
In association with the addition of the function of outputting the layout information, it becomes necessary for the user interface of the OCR system to be able to modify not only the text code information but also the layout information. Japanese PUPA No. 63-216187 describes a system which outputs recognized characters so that they are positioned and sized in a similar manner to an original image. However, this system is intended to modify only the recognition results of the text codes, not layout information. Further, that invention does not in any way disclose a method for enlarging or reducing recognized characters to the size of character images.